A Multimodal Framework for Computer Mediated Learning: The Reshaping of Curriculum Knowledge and Learning

promote high reader authority - the images present visual potentials with which to
construct a narrative, and possess a weak linearity. Computer applications have the
potential to make a range of modes available on screen, however, a web site may use
minimal visuals, possess limited potential for interactivity, and promote authority
(such as the ESRC website). I argue that the potential of a medium is one matter and
that how these are used is another.

The Range of Modes Made Available

Although the potentials of medium is one matter and how they are used is another it
is true to say that in general a range of modes are more easily facilitated by the
medium of the computer than the book. The book has a recent history of association
with one dominant mode that is writing (although other modes are always in play). In
contrast computer-based technologies have been developed at a point where
multimodal communication is common and without a ‘mono-modal’ history of
association. CD-ROM and web-based technologies typically make available a wider
range of modes at one time than a book. While film makes available many of these
modal resources it does not have the medium's potential for interactivity (via
keyboard, mouse, and joystick) and these modal combinations are not available
productively for the reader. The process of production in the medium of film and
video was mode specialised (e.g. lighting, sound, and editing) each of which was in
the control of distinct professional domains. The facilities of computer applications
such as iMovie, animator, and Premier provide the possibility of the productive use of
a full range of modes and roles.

Multimedia with its branching structure, its convergence of media, its
hypertext connections and multiple webs, makes it unlike single
media forms and, I suggest, creates routes out of subject-specific
channels.

(Sinker, 2000: 188)

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